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Clinton Camp Joins 2016 Election Recount Effort, But Not To Win

After remaining silent on Jill Stein’s 2016 election recount effort, the Clinton campaign now says they will send representatives to participate in the recount process. In a Saturday statement, Clinton’s top lawyer explained that while they have uncovered no credible evidence of hacking or vote manipulation, they still want Hillary Clinton to be represented in the proceedings. The Clinton camp did not request or initiate the recount, and does not expect the results to be overturned, but wants representatives on the ground to make sure the process is conducted fairly.

“Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides,” said Clinton’s general counsel Marc Elias in Saturday’s statement. Careful not to raise Clinton supporters’ hopes, Elias continued, “Regardless of the potential to change the outcome in any of the states, we feel it is important, on principle, to ensure our campaign is legally represented in any court proceedings and represented on the ground in order to monitor the recount process itself.”

President-elect Donald Trump, who repeatedly made claims of rampant voter fraud and election-rigging while on the campaign trail, is apparently no longer concerned about the accuracy of the election results now that he has won the electoral college. Prior to November 8th, Trump expressed serious doubts about the validity of election results and refused to say he would accept the outcome. However, in a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump called the recount verification effort a “scam” and insisted that “the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused.”

For an in-depth analysis of the issues and various opinions surrounding Jill Stein’s recount effort in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, take a look at this Politico article by Brent Griffiths.